Orders of magnitude (speed) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

To help compare different orders of magnitude, the following list describes various speed

Speed

In kinematics, the speed of an object is the magnitude of its velocity ; it is thus a scalar quantity. The average speed of an object in an interval of time is the distance traveled by the object divided by the duration of the interval; the instantaneous speed is the limit of the average speed as...

levels between approximately 1 m/s

Metre per second

Metre per second is an SI derived unit of both speed and velocity , defined by distance in metres divided by time in seconds....

and 3 m/s. Values in bold are exact.

List of orders of magnitude for speed

List of orders of magnitude for speed
Speed
In kinematics, the speed of an object is the magnitude of its velocity ; it is thus a scalar quantity. The average speed of an object in an interval of time is the distance traveled by the object divided by the duration of the interval; the instantaneous speed is the limit of the average speed as...
Factor	Value (m/s)	Value (km/h)	Value (mph)	Item
10⁻¹¹	9.8	3.5	2.2	Rate of global sea level rise Current sea level rise Current sea level rise potentially impacts human populations and the wider natural environment . Global average sea level rose at an average rate of around 1.8 mm per year over 1961 to 2003 and at an average rate of about 3.1 mm per year from 1993 to 2003... in 1993–2003 (3.1 mm/year).
10⁻¹⁰	3 to 3	1 to 1	7 to 7	Typical relative speed of continental drift Continental drift Continental drift is the movement of the Earth's continents relative to each other. The hypothesis that continents 'drift' was first put forward by Abraham Ortelius in 1596 and was fully developed by Alfred Wegener in 1912... .
10⁻⁹	1.3	4.68	2.9	Average rate of the Moon Moon The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more... receding from the Earth Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets... (approx. 38 mm/year).
10⁻⁹	4.8	1.7	1.1	Human hair growth Human hair growth Human hair grows everywhere on the body except for the soles of the feet, the lips, the palms of the hands, and the eyelids, apart from eyelashes... (average rate; note that there is a great range of variation).
10⁻⁶	1.52	5.4	3.4	Speed of a cellular Cell (biology) The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos.... vesicle Vesicle (biology) A vesicle is a bubble of liquid within another liquid, a supramolecular assembly made up of many different molecules. More technically, a vesicle is a small membrane-enclosed sack that can store or transport substances. Vesicles can form naturally because of the properties of lipid membranes , or... propelled by a motor protein.
10⁻⁵	1.4	5.0	3.1	Growth rate of bamboo Bamboo Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family.... , the fastest-growing woody plant, over 24 hours.
10⁻⁴	4.0	1.4	8.9	Speed of Jakobshavn Isbræ Jakobshavn Isbræ Jakobshavn Isbræ, also known as the Jakobshavn Glacier and Sermeq Kujalleq is a large outlet glacier in West Greenland. It is located near the Greenlandic town of Ilulissat and ends at the sea in the Ilulissat Icefjord.... , one of the fastest glacier Glacier A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight... s, in 2003.
10⁻⁴	6	2.2	1.3	Typical speed of Thiovulum majus, the fastest-swimming bacterium.
10⁻³	0.00275	0.00990	0.00615	World record speed of the fastest snail Snail Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often... in the Congham, UK.
10⁻²	0.0476	0.171	0.106	Compact cassette Compact Cassette The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel... tape speed.
10⁻²	0.080	0.29	0.18	The top speed of a sloth Sloth Sloths are the six species of medium-sized mammals belonging to the families Megalonychidae and Bradypodidae , part of the order Pilosa and therefore related to armadillos and anteaters, which sport a similar set of specialized claws.They are arboreal residents of the jungles of Central and South... .
10⁻¹	0.2778	1	0.6214	1 km Kilometre The kilometre is a unit of length in the metric system, equal to one thousand metres and is therefore exactly equal to the distance travelled by light in free space in of a second... /hour.
	0.44704	1.609344	1	1 mph MPH MPH is a three-letter acronym that refers to miles per hour, a measurement of speedMPH may also refer to:* Make Poverty History, a campaign supported by Bob Geldof to end poverty in Africa... .
	0.5144	1.852	1.151	1 knot (nautical mile Nautical mile The nautical mile is a unit of length that is about one minute of arc of latitude along any meridian, but is approximately one minute of arc of longitude only at the equator... per hour)
10⁰	1.2	4.32	2.68	Typical scanning speed of an audio compact disc Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... . The speed of signals (action potential Action potential In physiology, an action potential is a short-lasting event in which the electrical membrane potential of a cell rapidly rises and falls, following a consistent trajectory. Action potentials occur in several types of animal cells, called excitable cells, which include neurons, muscle cells, and... s) traveling along axon Axon An axon is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, that conducts electrical impulses away from the neuron's cell body or soma.... s in the human cortex.
	1–1.5	3.6–5.4	2.2–3.4	Average walking Walking Walking is one of the main gaits of locomotion among legged animals, and is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an 'inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults over the stiff limb or limbs with each step... speed; below a speed of about 2 m/s, it is more efficient to walk than to run, but above that speed, it is more efficient to run.
	2.39	8.53	5.35	World record time 50m freestyle swim (20.94 seconds)
	5.72	20.42	12.80	World record time marathon Marathon The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race... (2h03m59s)
	6–7	20–25	12–15	Comfortable bicycling Bicycle A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.... speed.
10¹	10.438	37.578	23.349	Average speed of Jamaican Jamaica Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic... athlete Usain Bolt Usain Bolt The Honourable Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, C.D. , is a Jamaican sprinter and a five-time World and three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and the 4×100 metres relay... whilst setting the 100m world record in Berlin 2009 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 100 metres The men's 100 metres at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics were held at the Olympic Stadium on August 15 and August 16. The two main contenders for the event were the reigning World Champion Tyson Gay and Usain Bolt, the reigning Olympic champion and world record holder... on 16 August 2009.
	8–14	30–50	18–31	Typical residential speed limit Speed limit Road speed limits are used in most countries to regulate the speed of road vehicles. Speed limits may define maximum , minimum or no speed limit and are normally indicated using a traffic sign... . Top speed of a running cat or dog.
	14	50	31	Typical speed of road-race cyclist.
	17	60	37	Typical speed of thoroughbred Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed... racehorse or racing greyhound Greyhound The Greyhound is a breed of sighthound that has been primarily bred for coursing game and racing, and the breed has also recently seen a resurgence in its popularity as a pedigree show dog and family pet. It is a gentle and intelligent breed... .
	5–25	18–90	11–56	Speed of propagation for unmyelinated Action potential In physiology, an action potential is a short-lasting event in which the electrical membrane potential of a cell rapidly rises and falls, following a consistent trajectory. Action potentials occur in several types of animal cells, called excitable cells, which include neurons, muscle cells, and... sensory neuron Neuron A neuron is an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits information by electrical and chemical signaling. Chemical signaling occurs via synapses, specialized connections with other cells. Neurons connect to each other to form networks. Neurons are the core components of the nervous... s.
	30	110	70	Typical speed of car (freeway), Cheetah Cheetah The cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws... —fastest of all terrestrial animals, Sailfish Sailfish 'Sailfish' are two species of fish in the genus Istiophorus, living in warmer sections of all the oceans of the world. They are predominately blue to gray in color and have a characteristic erectile dorsal fin known as a sail, which often stretches the entire length of the back... —fastest Fish Fish Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups... . Speed of go-fast boat Go-fast boat A go-fast boat, or cigarette boat, is a small, fast boat designed with a long narrow platform and a planing hull to enable it to reach high speeds.... .
	36	130	81	Land speed record for a human powered vehicle.
	40	140	90	Typical peak speed of a local service train Train A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate... (or intercity on lower standard tracks).
	67	240	149	The top speed of the world's fastest roller coaster, Formula Rossa Formula Rossa Formula Rossa is a launched roller coaster located at Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Manufactured by Intamin, Formula Rossa is the world's fastest roller coaster with a top speed of... .
	90	320	200	Typical speed of a modern high-speed train (e.g. latest generation of production TGV), a diving Peregrine Falcon Peregrine Falcon The Peregrine Falcon , also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the Duck Hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache"... —fastest bird. 320 km/h or 200 mph is a parameter sometimes used in defining a supercar Supercar Supercar is a term used most often to describe an expensive high end car. It has been defined specifically as "a very expensive, fast or powerful car"... .
	91	328	204	Fastest recorded ball (a golf ball) in sports.
10²	103	370	230	Speed of super torpedo VA-111 Shkval VA-111 Shkval The VA-111 Shkval torpedo and its descendants are supercavitating torpedoes developed by the Soviet Union. They are capable of speeds in excess of 200 knots .-Design and capabilities:... .
	103.5	372.6	231.5	Maximum speed recorded by a Formula One Formula One Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which... car Formula One car A modern Formula One car is a single-seat, open cockpit, open wheel racing car with substantial front and rear wings, and an engine positioned behind the driver. The regulations governing the cars are unique to the championship... . Set by Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán is a Colombian race car driver known internationally for participating and winning in Formula One and CART race competitions. He has enjoyed great success. Currently, he competes in NASCAR, driving the #42 Target Chevrolet Impala for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing in the Sprint... during the 2005 Italian Grand Prix 2005 Italian Grand Prix The 2005 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One race, held on September 4, 2005 at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza circuit. Fifteenth race of the 2005 Formula One season, it was the event in which Juan Pablo Montoya achieved the fastest ever speed recorded during a F1 race, 372.6 km/h... at Monza Autodromo Nazionale Monza The Autodromo Nazionale Monza is a race track located near the town of Monza, north of Milan, in Italy. The circuit's biggest event is the Formula One Italian Grand Prix, which has been hosted there since the sport's inception.... in a McLaren MP4-20 McLaren MP4-20 The McLaren MP4-20 is a Formula One racing car that was built by McLaren. It was designed by Adrian Newey and Mike Coughlan, and introduced at the beginning of the 2005 Formula One season.- New design :... .
	105.5	379.8	236	Maximum speed of a Ferrari F50 GT1.
	119.742	431.072	267.86	Maximum speed of the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport (currently the fastest production car in the world).
	120	432	270	Speed of propagation for mammal Mammal Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young... ian motor neuron Neuron A neuron is an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits information by electrical and chemical signaling. Chemical signaling occurs via synapses, specialized connections with other cells. Neurons connect to each other to form networks. Neurons are the core components of the nervous... s.
	130	468	290	Wind speed of a powerful tornado Tornado A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider... .
	150.6	539	337	Top speed of an internal-combustion-powered NHRA Top Fuel Dragster.
	157	575	351	Top speed of experimental test TGV TGV The TGV is France's high-speed rail service, currently operated by SNCF Voyages, the long-distance rail branch of SNCF, the French national rail operator.... in 2007.
	161	580	360	Top speed of JR-Maglev JR-Maglev JR-Maglev is a magnetic levitation train system developed by the Central Japan Railway Company and Railway Technical Research Institute . JR-Maglev MLX01 is one of the latest designs of a series of Maglev trains in development in Japan since the 1970s... in 2003.
	250	900	560	Typical cruising speed of a modern jet airliner Jet aircraft A jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by jet engines. Jet aircraft generally fly much faster than propeller-powered aircraft and at higher altitudes – as high as . At these altitudes, jet engines achieve maximum efficiency over long distances. The engines in propeller-powered aircraft... , e.g. an Airbus A380 Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner manufactured by the European corporation Airbus, a subsidiary of EADS. It is the largest passenger airliner in the world. Due to its size, many airports had to modify and improve facilities to accommodate it... .
	274.44	988	614	Highest speed recorded during a free fall Free fall Free fall is any motion of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it, at least initially. These conditions produce an inertial trajectory so long as gravity remains the only force. Since this definition does not specify velocity, it also applies to objects initially moving upward... set by Joe Kittinger Joseph Kittinger Joseph William Kittinger II is a former Command Pilot and career military officer in the United States Air Force. He is most famous for his participation in Project Manhigh and Project Excelsior, holding the records for having the highest, fastest and longest skydive, from a height greater than... .
	320	1,200	720	The speed of a typical .22 LR bullet.
	340.3	1,225	761	Speed of sound Speed of sound The speed of sound is the distance travelled during a unit of time by a sound wave propagating through an elastic medium. In dry air at , the speed of sound is . This is , or about one kilometer in three seconds or approximately one mile in five seconds.... in standard atmosphere International Standard Atmosphere The International Standard Atmosphere is an atmospheric model of how the pressure, temperature, density, and viscosity of the Earth's atmosphere change over a wide range of altitudes. It has been established to provide a common reference for temperature and pressure and consists of tables of... (15 °C and 1 atm Atmosphere (unit) The standard atmosphere is an international reference pressure defined as 101325 Pa and formerly used as unit of pressure. For practical purposes it has been replaced by the bar which is 105 Pa... ).
	344.66	1,240.77	770.98	Max speed reached by the jet-propelled car ThrustSSC ThrustSSC ThrustSSC, also spelt Thrust SSC by secondary sources, is a British jet-propelled car developed by Richard Noble, Glynne Bowsher, Ron Ayers and Jeremy Bliss.... in 1997—Land speed record.
	428	1,540.8	957	Max speed of Bell X-1 Bell X-1 The Bell X-1, originally designated XS-1, was a joint NACA-U.S. Army/US Air Force supersonic research project built by Bell Aircraft. Conceived in 1944 and designed and built over 1945, it eventually reached nearly 1,000 mph in 1948... .
	464	1,670	1,040	Speed of Earth's Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets... rotation at the equator Equator An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass.... .
	603	2,170.8	1,350	Speed of the Concorde Concorde Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport . It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation... airliner.
	975	3,510	2,180	Muzzle velocity Muzzle velocity Muzzle velocity is the speed a projectile has at the moment it leaves the muzzle of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets , to more than in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns... of M16 rifle.
	981	3,532	2,194	SR-71 Blackbird SR-71 Blackbird The Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" was an advanced, long-range, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft. It was developed as a black project from the Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft in the 1960s by the Lockheed Skunk Works. Clarence "Kelly" Johnson was responsible for many of the... , the fastest aircraft Aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although... driven by a mechanical jet engine Jet engine A jet engine is a reaction engine that discharges a fast moving jet to generate thrust by jet propulsion and in accordance with Newton's laws of motion. This broad definition of jet engines includes turbojets, turbofans, rockets, ramjets, pulse jets... .
10³	1,400	5,040	3,100	Speed of the Space Shuttle Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons... when the solid rocket boosters separate.
	1,500	5,400	3,400	Speed of sound in water Water Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a... .
	1,500	5,400	3,400	Speed of sound in soft tissue Soft tissue In anatomy, the term soft tissue refers to tissues that connect, support, or surround other structures and organs of the body, not being bone. Soft tissue includes tendons, ligaments, fascia, skin, fibrous tissues, fat, and synovial membranes , and muscles, nerves and blood vessels .It is sometimes... .
	1,789	6,443	4,002	Speed of BrahMos II hypersonic cruise missile
	2,000	7,200	4,500	Estimated speed of a thermal neutron.
	2,019	7,268.4	4,516	Speed of the North American X-15 North American X-15 The North American X-15 rocket-powered aircraft/spaceplane was part of the X-series of experimental aircraft, initiated with the Bell X-1, that were made for the USAAF/USAF, NACA/NASA, and the USN. The X-15 set speed and altitude records in the early 1960s, reaching the edge of outer space and... rocket plane.
	2,700	9,600	6,000	Speed of wind on exoplanet HD 189733b.
	2,885	10,385	6,453	Top speed of the fastest rocket sled Rocket sled A rocket sled is a test platform that slides along a set of rails, propelled by rockets.As its name implies, a rocket sled does not use wheels. Instead, it has sliding pads, called "slippers", which are curved around the head of the rails to prevent the sled from flying off the track... .
	3,373	12,144	7,546	Speed of the X-43 rocket/scramjet plane.
	4,500	16,000	10,000	A typical value for the specific impulse Specific impulse Specific impulse is a way to describe the efficiency of rocket and jet engines. It represents the derivative of the impulse with respect to amount of propellant used, i.e., the thrust divided by the amount of propellant used per unit time. If the "amount" of propellant is given in terms of mass ,... of current rocket Rocket A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction... s.
	7,700	27,700	17,200	Speed of International Space Station International Space Station The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes... and typical speed of a satellite Satellite In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon.... and the space Shuttle Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons... in low Earth orbit Low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit is generally defined as an orbit within the locus extending from the Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 2,000 km... .
	7,777	28,000	17,400	Speed of propagation of the explosion in a detonating cord Detonating cord Detonating cord is a thin, flexible plastic tube filled with PETN . With the PETN exploding at a rate of approximately 4 miles per second, any common length of det cord appears to explode instantaneously... .
10⁴	11,107	39,985.2	24,846	Speed of Apollo 10 Apollo 10 Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the American Apollo space program. It was an F type mission—its purpose was to be a "dry run" for the Apollo 11 mission, testing all of the procedures and components of a Moon landing without actually landing on the Moon itself. The mission included the... – high speed record for manned vehicle.
	11,200	40,320	25,100	Escape velocity Escape velocity In physics, escape velocity is the speed at which the kinetic energy plus the gravitational potential energy of an object is zero gravitational potential energy is negative since gravity is an attractive force and the potential is defined to be zero at infinity... from Earth.
	16,100	57,900	36,000	Fastest projectile velocity (1994).
	16,210	58,356	36,261	Escape speed from Earth by NASA New Horizons New Horizons New Horizons is a NASA robotic spacecraft mission currently en route to the dwarf planet Pluto. It is expected to be the first spacecraft to fly by and study Pluto and its moons, Charon, Nix, Hydra and S/2011 P 1. Its estimated arrival date at the Pluto-Charon system is July 14th, 2015... spacecraft—Fastest escape velocity.
	17,000	61,000	38,000	The approximate speed of the Voyager 1 Voyager 1 The Voyager 1 spacecraft is a 722-kilogram space probe launched by NASA in 1977, to study the outer Solar System and eventually interstellar space. Operating for as of today , the spacecraft receives routine commands and transmits data back to the Deep Space Network. At a distance of as of... probe relative to the sun, when it exited the Solar System.
	29,800	107,280	66,700	Speed of the Earth Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets... in orbit around the Sun Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields... .
	47,800	172,100	106,900	Atmospheric entry speed of the Galileo atmospheric probe—Fastest controlled atmospheric entry for a man-made object.
	70,220	252,800	157,100	Speed of the Helios 2 Helios probes Helios-A and Helios-B , were a pair of probes launched into heliocentric orbit for the purpose of studying solar processes. A joint venture of the Federal Republic of Germany and NASA, the probes were launched from the John F. Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Dec. 10, 1974,... solar probe—Fastest man-made object.
10⁵	200,000	700,000	450,000	Orbital speed of the solar system Solar System The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun... in the Milky Way Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky... galaxy.
	450,000	1,600,000	1,000,000	Typical speed of a particle of the solar wind Solar wind The solar wind is a stream of charged particles ejected from the upper atmosphere of the Sun. It mostly consists of electrons and protons with energies usually between 1.5 and 10 keV. The stream of particles varies in temperature and speed over time... , relative to the Sun Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields... .
	552,000	1,990,000	1,230,000	Speed of the Milky Way Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky... , relative to the cosmic microwave background.
	617,700	2,224,000	1,382,000	Escape velocity from the surface of the Sun Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields... .
10⁶	1,000,000	3,600,000	2,200,000	Typical speed of a Moreton wave Moreton wave A Moreton wave is the chromospheric signature of a large-scale solar coronal shock wave. Described as a kind of solar 'tsunami', they are generated by solar flares. They are named for American astronomer Gail Moreton, an observer at the Lockheed Solar Observatory in Burbank who spotted them in 1959... across the surface of the Sun.
	1,610,000	5,800,000	3,600,000	Speed of hypervelocity star PSR B2224+65, which currently seems to be leaving the Milky Way Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky... .
	5,000,000	18,000,000	11,000,000	Estimated minimum speed of star S2 S2 (star) S2, also known as S0—2 , is a star that is located close to the radio source Sagittarius A, orbiting it with an orbital period of 15.56 ± 0.35 years and a pericenter distance of 17 light hours — about 4 times the distance of Neptune from the Sun.Its changing apparent position has been... at its closest approach to Sagittarius A.
10⁷	36,000,000	130,000,000	81,000,000	Typical speed of a fast neutron.
10⁷	30,000,000	100,000,000	70,000,000	Typical speed of an electron Electron The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton... in a cathode ray tube Cathode ray tube The cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and... .
10⁸	100,000,000	360,000,000	220,000,000	The escape velocity of a neutron star Neutron star A neutron star is a type of stellar remnant that can result from the gravitational collapse of a massive star during a Type II, Type Ib or Type Ic supernova event. Such stars are composed almost entirely of neutrons, which are subatomic particles without electrical charge and with a slightly larger... .
	124,000,000	447,000,000	277,000,000	Speed of light in a diamond Diamond In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions... (Refractive index Refractive index In optics the refractive index or index of refraction of a substance or medium is a measure of the speed of light in that medium. It is expressed as a ratio of the speed of light in vacuum relative to that in the considered medium.... 2.417).
	200,000,000	720,000,000	440,000,000	Speed of a signal Signalling (telecommunications) In telecommunication, signaling has the following meanings:*the use of signals for controlling communications... in a cable Cable A cable is two or more wires running side by side and bonded, twisted or braided together to form a single assembly. In mechanics cables, otherwise known as wire ropes, are used for lifting, hauling and towing or conveying force through tension. In electrical engineering cables are used to carry... .
	299,792,458	1,079,252,848.8	670,616,629	Speed of light Speed of light The speed of light in vacuum, usually denoted by c, is a physical constant important in many areas of physics. Its value is 299,792,458 metres per second, a figure that is exact since the length of the metre is defined from this constant and the international standard for time... or other electromagnetic radiation Electromagnetic radiation Electromagnetic radiation is a form of energy that exhibits wave-like behavior as it travels through space... in a vacuum Vacuum In everyday usage, vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty". A perfect vacuum would be one with no particles in it at all, which is impossible to achieve in... . Also, Planck speed Planck units In physics, Planck units are physical units of measurement defined exclusively in terms of five universal physical constants listed below, in such a manner that these five physical constants take on the numerical value of 1 when expressed in terms of these units. Planck units elegantly simplify... .

List of orders of magnitude for speed

See also